The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31st Jn.1:1-18 “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only-begotten Son, full of grace and truth.”
Part 1: The Glory of God… by Fr. Maurice Zundel
Part 2: ROAD MAP TO HEAVEN Excerpt: Intro to Plan of Life… by Fr. Ed Broom, OMV
PART 1: The Glory of God… by Fr. Maurice Zundel (+1975) Swiss mystic and philosopher
Working out our salvation… maintaining our equilibrium and pursuing our perfection… how can we resist the fact that God has no other possible revelation but ourselves, that we are the only expression of His face in the area where we live and that the others have the right to ask me to be Jesus Christ: in spite of all my shortcomings, I am entrusted with the mission of being Christ.
That, I believe, is the gate of light opening out on the mystery of Jesus: that the Incarnation is continued through us and that we, that is each of us, we are Christ for others. Saint Augustine says so: “We have not only been made Christians, we have been made Christ,” and not only Christ to live in union with Him, but to bear the light and the presence of Christ to others, to be what He would be in our place, to continue the act of the washing of the feet, to be given, consumed, eaten like Christ, to be nourishment for others.
Let us ask our Lord that He may take possession of souls who will bear His testimony totally and, in our daily lives, let us try to renew our courage and our enthusiasm at every moment by thinking that our Lord is entrusted into our hands, and that the possibility that Christ be received today, that He become flesh and that He dwell among us, depends on us.
- We might be thinking, “How can I do this”? Fr. Ed Broom, OMV answers this question with detailed explanations and examples in his new book Road Map to Heaven for anyone who sincerely wants to become the light of Christ in “this present darkness” (Eph 6:12) —a world in desperate need of a Savior. Excerpt provided.
PART 2: ROAD MAP TO HEAVEN Excerpt: Intro to Plan of Life by Fr. Ed Broom, OMV
WHAT ON EARTH IS THIS PLAN OF LIFE???
Before outlining a methodical, organized, systematic, cohesive, and practical Plan of Life, let us first try to explain this so called Plan of Life. What on earth is a PLAN OF LIFE???
ORDER THE DISORDERED. In the texts of the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Annotation #1, we read that one of the primary purposes of the Spiritual Exercises is to order the disordered in our life so that we can discover God’s will and carry it out.
ORIGINAL SIN AND PERSONAL SIN. As a result of the sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve (Gen 3), disorder entered into the world and on all levels. Natural disorder, social disorder, family disorder, physical disorder, mental disorder, emotional disorder, moral disorder, and spiritual disorder—all this became a sad but all too true reality. In His Incarnation, life, Passion, death, and Resurrection, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, came to restore order in the world and in our personal lives. Because, in a word, sin is the essential reason for disorder at all levels.
PLAN OF LIFE AND ORDERING THE DISORDERED. So as to be able to order the disordered in our lives we must have some plan, some project, some methodical and systematic program. That is the purpose and the proposal for composing one’s Plan of Life—to put in order the disorder in our lives. A well-composed and practical Plan of life that is lived out can have incredible value in our lives, and put us on the right path to arrive safely at and through the Heavenly Gates.
FRUSTRATION AND SADNESS WITHOUT A PLAN OF LIFE. The huge majority of people do not know where they are headed, have no concrete purpose in life, and float around like a leaf blown by the wind. They live with constant stress, anxiety, nervous tension, and very often suffer slight to serious depression.
PLAN OF LIFE AND GOAL IN LIFE. On the contrary, the person who has a Plan of Life to live by has a huge advantage! He knows where he has come from—God! He knows where he is heading—Heaven. He knows how to get there—Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Finally, by composing and writing out a Plan of Life, he has given himself a Spiritual Road Map so as to arrive at his final destiny—the Kingdom of God! Therefore, we encourage you to compose and write out your own Plan of Life, your Spiritual Road Map, you might even call it your SPIRITUAL GPS!!! That will lead you and keep you safely and securely on the Highway to Heaven.
SPIRITUAL GUIDE OR DIRECTOR. It must be said from the start of this Plan of Life project, that those who undertake this most noble enterprise of composing their personal Plan of Life must have the help of a Spiritual Director, some spiritual guide, some spiritual person to accompany them. Saint Ignatius of Loyola, as well as Saint Teresa of Avila, insisted on the dire need to have a Director in the spiritual life. The temptations, obstacles, and pitfalls in the spiritual life are far too numerous for anyone who seriously undertakes this spiritual journey to go along this way without some form of spiritual direction. Therefore, we warmly exhort all of those who plan to compose their Plan of Life to secure some form of spiritual direction. We all have many blind-spots, and without the help of some qualified person outside our own experience, we can easily be deceived and tricked!
HOW MANY FORMS OF THE PLAN OF LIFE ARE THERE?
There are several forms of the Plan of Life. However, in our short and humble work we will be offering essentially two forms. You can do one or the other, or you can do both—the liberty of the sons and daughters of God! Each person should feel free to be open to the movement of the Holy Spirit in their life. Of course this free movement should be moderated, guided, and checked by a trained Spiritual Director. God speaks through many channels and one is through the guidance of a Spiritual Director.
WHAT THEN ARE THE TWO PLANS FROM WHICH TO CHOOSE?
The first form of the Plan of Life we would call or term a Chronological Plan of Life. By chronological we mean a Plan of Life in terms of a division in time brackets. This means that you want to step back and have an eagle’s overview, an eagle’s panoramic vision of the time that God has so generously given to you. Then immersed in prayer you want to humbly beg for the grace to utilize the time that God has given to you to the maximum potential. In other words, you do not want to be wasting time in this short life that God has given to you.
THE TIME BRACKETS. The time brackets can be divided from the General to the Specific as defined in philosophical language. In every time bracket you want to discern and decide—with the help of the Holy Spirit and your Spiritual Director—what you would like to offer to the Lord. In other words, your Plan of Life is an offering, an oblation, a sacrifice that you want to give to God. If God has given you so much, should you not be ready and willing to give God something in return? Call to mind how much Jesus gave for you as He hung on the cross that first Good Friday, shedding every drop of His Precious Blood for the eternal salvation of your immortal soul. His love demands a response of love on your part. This is the spiritual motivation of the Plan of Life—to give yourself—your time, your efforts, your energy, your mind, heart, will, and whole being to God as an acceptable holocaust of love, thanksgiving, and praise!
Therefore, you want to look at the year and what you can offer to the Lord. Then scroll down to the month bracket and what your generous offering to the Lord can be. Following the month, of course, is the week. Much can be done in the course of the week. What are you willing to give to the Lord? Then move to the 24 hours in each day. A well-ordered and well-organized Plan of Life can offer to the Lord many golden nuggets in the course of these 24 hours! Now what about the hourly basis? Read and pray carefully over the text and see what you can give to the Lord during some hours in the course of the day. How about minutes and even seconds? In a word, God has given us all—we belong to God, and we want to give all that we have to our loving and almighty Heavenly Father. We want to be generous with God. It is true that God cannot be outdone in generosity, but He is waiting patiently for our generous response.
Thus we come to the conclusion of our Chronological Plan of Life. It is a good practice to correct, modify, reform, and improve your Plan of Life at least on a yearly basis with the help of a good Spiritual Director.
HOW ABOUT OUR PROFESSIONAL/VOCATIONAL LIFE?
The second form of the Plan of Life is what we call the Professional/Vocational Plan of Life. We all have a universal vocation—to become saints! The Plan of Life can help us to pursue true sanctity of life. However, all of us have a particular and specific vocation in life. By vocation we mean from the Latin vocare—calling! What might be specific vocations? Quick and to the point the response would be the following: married, single, Religious, Priesthood. These are distinct and different vocations in life. The chapters included herein on the Professional/Vocational Plan of Life can best be applied to lay people engaged in the activities of the world. The faithful laity in the Church, the lay persons, are called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. (Mt 5:13-16)
How then, you might ask, is this Professional/Vocational Plan of Life written out or organized? Good question and here is the response. We have written several chapters on certain specific categories in which you are invited to look at your life so as to analyze and examine with great sincerity and honesty how you are really living out these categories. The first public preaching of Jesus was the following: Be converted because the kingdom of God is at hand. (Mk 1:15) The essential message is one word CONVERSION!!! The word transcribed from the Greek is METANOIA, which basically means that we are all imperfect in many ways, we all have many disorders that come from Original Sin and personal sin, and we must change—leave the wrong, the disordered, the sinful, and put on the Lord Jesus Christ, the new man!
Therefore, specific chapters that we have outlined and explained are the following, with the earnest hope that you will sincerely look into these areas in your life and humbly admit that there is a real and urgent need to make some changes. Only God is perfect; all of us are definitely a Work in Progress…
Here is the list of specific categories for the PROFESSIONAL/VOCATIONAL PLAN OF LIFE:
1. PURITY OF INTENTION. In your Profession and Vocation, learning to do the ordinary with extraordinary love.
2. MARRIAGE. 1) AS A SPOUSE. How can you improve and upgrade your relationship with your spouse, whom you are called to love until death do you part? 2) AS A FATHER/MOTHER. If God has given you the great gift of having children, how can you improve your relationship with your children? How can you bring them closer to God?
3. WORK. God calls us to work. God said to Adam: By the sweat of your brow will you earn the bread you eat. (Gen 3) We are all called to work, but we can easily become lazy, negligent, cut corners, even fall into dishonesty. Part of the Professional/Vocational Plan of Life is to step back so as to view your work and see how you can make improvements. Never forget: The Lord is truly our Master. He will pay us according to our work. What we sow is what we will reap!
4. SOCIAL LIFE/NETWORK. Maybe God is calling you to change a social or family relationship? Maybe God is asking you establish a new one? Be open to change!
5. PERMANENT INTELLECTUAL FORMATION. As in all professions, how can you keep growing in the knowledge of your faith? What do you need to study to grow in your knowledge and love of God?
6. APOSTOLIC LIFE. If you love God then you should love what God loves: the salvation of immortal souls! How can you be a better fisher of men?
7. PENITENTIAL LIFE. Prayer and Penance are the two wings on which you can fly high to God and to heaven! What penitential practices should you undertake? Jesus said: Unless you do penance, you will perish! (Lk 13:3)
8. PRAYER LIFE. What changes can you make in your prayer life to draw you closer to Jesus, draw you into deeper union with Jesus, your Best Friend?
9. SACRAMENTAL LIFE. How is your reception of the Sacraments? How can you be more fervent and faithful in your reception of the Sacraments, especially Confession and the most Holy Eucharist?
10. MARIAN ELEMENT. If we really do love Jesus, then we must love the one He loved most on earth, and that is His Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. How can you establish a more filial and loving relationship with Mary who is our life, our sweetness, and our hope?
Hence you are being called through prayer and spiritual direction, with utmost sincerity, to look into different categories in your Professional/Vocational life, to examine and analyze them, and to honestly admit that there is still much to be changed, not with sadness but with great gratitude!!! God is calling you to become a saint and, therefore, He is calling you into a deeper conversion of life. Beyond the shadow of a doubt, the writing out of this Plan of Life, with the help of a good Spiritual Director, is one of the most efficacious tools to arrive at ordering the disordered in our unruly, confused, disoriented, and chaotic lives. This is highly recommended by Saint Ignatius of Loyola in the context of the Spiritual Exercises. If done well, you will never regret it; rather you will be eternally grateful to God as you travel with speed and graceful ease on the Highway to Heaven!
Copyright 2020 Oblates of the Virgin Mary
St. Peter Chanel Church, Hawaiian Gardens, CA
